smith



(No Model.)

D. L. SMITH.

BUCKLE.

No. 476,567. Patented June 7, 1892 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DWIGHT L. SMITH, OF lVATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EARL A. SMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,567, dated June 7, 1892.

Application filed February 8, 1892. Serial No. 420,701. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DYVIGHT L. SMITH, of \Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Buckles; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and theletters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and

which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a front view of the buckle complcte; Fig. 2, a rear view of the same; Fig. 3, an end view of the same; Fig. l, a vertical I5 central section; Fig. 5, the lever plate detached; Fig. 6, the tongue detached.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of suspender-buckles in which the frame of the buckle is made from wire and having combined therewith a pressurebar and a swinging lever to clamp the suspender against the pressure-bar, and in which the frame is constructed with a depending hook for the attachment of the suspender- 2 5 ends, the object of the invention being a simple construction by which a guard will be provided for the depending hook to prevent accidental detachment of the suspender-ends; and the invention consists in the construction as hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claim.

The frame of the buckle is made from a single piece of wire, and consists of an upper side A, a lower side 13, and two ends 0 O, the

wire being bent accordingly. The lower side B is bent down at the center and returned to form the depending hook D, as usual in this class of suspenders; but the downward bends, which form the two branches E E of the depending hook, are distant from each other, so as to leave a clear space between them; but at the side B a metal clip F is applied, extending across the opening between the branches E E and so as to unite the two 4 5 parts of the lower side across the opening in the hook. On the rear side of the frame the pressure-bar G is applied. This bar is cut from sheet metal and isof a length somewhat greater than the length of the frame and so that the two ends of the bar may be doubled around the ends of the frame to make a firm connection therewith and so as to support the bar itself in a plane at the rear of the plane of the frame of the buckle.

To form pivot-bearings for the lever, the two sides are bent forward, as at H, Fig. 3, so as to form U-shaped recesses on the rear side of the two ends of the frame, and the two ends of the bar are closed around the ends of the frame at the point of these bends H, so as to close the open sides of the bends in the frame, and thus produce pivot-seats for the lever. This formation of pivot-seats being or may be substantially the same as that shown in Patent No. 402,457, granted to me Novemher 3, 1891.

To form the pivot upon which the lever may turn and also a guard for the hook, a wire is bent, as seen in Fig. 6, doubled at the center to form a tongue I and turned to the right and left to form two branchesJ J, in line with each other and adapted to be set into the pivot-bearings H of the frame. The tongue I is of a length to extend down into the hook and is bent so as to take abearing upon the lower side B of the frame and from that point proj ect forward, so as to close the mouth of the hook, as seen at K, Figs. 3 and at, the lower end of the tongue being turned rearward, as at L. This tongue is elastic and so as to readily yield for the introduction of the eye or ring of the suspender-ends, that the said ring may pass into the hook, the tongue (shown in Fig. 4) being depressed as for the entrance of the ring into the hook. The bend in the lower end of the hook is inclined to the plane of the hook, so that as the ring of the suspender-- ends is forced upward against it it will tend to force the tongue rearward to permit the escape of the ring, as occasion may require.

The two branches J J of the tongue form the pivot-bar for the lever. The lever M is cut from sheet metal, as seen in Fig. 5, and is bent into L shape, as seen in Fig. 4, the one part N being adapted to extend rearward toward the pressure-bar G and so as to form a jaw to grasp the suspender, while the other part extends downward to form a handle 0. The edge of the jaw is preferably toothed or serrated, as usual in this class of levers. Upon the jaw side of the plate which forms the lever extensions are made to form tongues P P. The length of thelever-plate corresponds substantially to the length between the ends of the frame. The lever is hung to the bar Jby turning the tongues Paround the bar J and so that the lever may swing on the bar J, as upon a pintle, from the position in Fig. 4: to the position in broken lines in the same figure. iVhen the lever is turned to the posit1on seen in broken lines, Fig. 4, the suspender is introduced from the rear side of the frame above the pressure-bar, thence down between the pressure-bar and the lever, and returned through the frame below the pressure-bar G, then the lever is returned to bring its jaw into engagement with the suspender. A notch Q is made at the center of the jaw portion of the lever to permit it to work freely around the downwardly-projecting tongue I of the bar J. By this construction a springguard is provided for the tongue. guard being made from wire, it is always in its proper relative position to the tongue and at the same time forms the pivot-bar, upon which the lever may be hung.

\Vhile it ispreferred to secure the two ends of the pivot-bar in the frame, as described, it.- will be evident that it may be otherwise secured, as it is not essential that this barshould have a swinging movement, it being substantially rigid at the point of connection with the frame when the parts are assembled.

'lhespring-tongue for yield ingly closing the The said pressure-bar extending across the rear of the 7 frame and secured to the two ends thereof, a spring-tongue made from wire doubled to form the tongue I, the two branches turned to the rightand left to form the pivot-bar J, the ends of the said bar J secured to the ends of the frame, with a lever M, hung to said bar, the jaw portion of the lever turned rearward, so as to operate in connection with the pressure-bar, and the lever outside the pivotbar, to which it is hung, turned downward against the said tongue to form a handle, the said tongue elastic and bent at. its lower end to form a yielding guard within the mouth of the hook, substantially as described. In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' V DYVIGHT L. SMITH. Vitnesses:

JAMES STovELL, H. L. SLAUSON. 

